@Raid Master

Bradwynne was still busy patching up the wounds of the surviving combatants. As many were still recovering from the effects of the massive battle, he was having his hands full. The bandages in his inventory were still many, but he did not know until when would they last. If the bandages would become empty, he would have to go back to Vintergard to purchase more. And that would take a long time and another travel through the storm. And so he would have to use his white magic to heal the others until at least the wounds were patched up. Sighing, as he had completed bandaging one person, he moved towards another person, when suddenly, he heard someone shout about some old man being poisoned. Thinking it was an emergency, he skipped towards the voice.

It was apparently from another high-ranking member of the Pride, who was called Jawn. Near him was their leader Zeus, who was apparently the old man that Jawn was shouting about, and as Bradwynne examined him, he saw that Zeus had lost one arm.

"Looks like this is serious," Bradwynne muttered as he looked at the lost arm. "If you say is true that there was poison in the bandages, and he freshly lost one arm, it is really serious. Leader, hang on, I will try to heal you." He then materialized a barrel jug of water and the first aid kit from his inventory, and before he would try to replace the bandages, he would try to do some healing and detoxification spells so that Zeus would not bleed that much, especially for the lost arm, and would not be affected much by the poison. Grasping his rosary with his left arm, he did two incantations, and if it would be successful, light yellow and light green lights should illuminate the body of Zeus for a better relief. As he would try to replace the bandages, he then looked at Jawn, and said, "We would need to know the poison first before we administer medicine to our leader."

 

Well, that had been intense... and now it was time to retire. She glanced to @Freja Sitka as the girl bound over and handed her something to drink. Instant. Best. Friend. Sipping at the brew, she let the warmth wash her worry and woe away as @Alkaid Zexis and @Comet spoke not too far off, and @Nalla was addressed by @Corvella while asking for some help with an arrow problem. Approaching her pyromantic pal, she ripped the arrow out of the shoulder without any elegance or warning, and then channeled white magic into the area to ease its pain and close the wound.

"Always best to catch it off guard, and heal it up quick," she muttered, slightly annoyed to be pausing her drinking in order to... well, the explanation was as close to an apology as the woman ever came.

Heading inside, to the warmth, she was surprised to see the appearance of Zeus with entourage, and listened half-heartedly as the leaders of the entire expedition reunited and spoke of what had occurred. Zeus was boisterous and odd, but amusing in his own way. She decided she liked him, and appreciated his plan of napping after a good long fight. Preparing to settle down and catch some rest of her own, she was discomforted by the disquieted non-quiet shout that came from Jawn. Someone had tried to poison HER Zeusikins?
A bitch was gonna pay. But first... she should probably heal him.

Oh. The blonde kid was already trying. His approach was very organized and well thought out, worthy of perhaps a school nurse. But this was a game where the activation of a skill could use a power that neutralized most poisons. So... that seemed faster, and better.

Approaching, she slipped past @Bradwynne and regarded Zeus with a furrowed brow, then grinned widely.

"Oh, NON! Zeus cannot be healed by BANDAGES and BALMS silly boy! Zeus must be made to be better through the FIGHTING of THE POISON itself! We must SHRINK Zeus and put him inside his OWN BODY so that he can FIGHT THE POISON!"
Did it make sense? God no. But if they could make it happen, with all the magitech bullshit around this place, she wanted to MAKE IT HAPPEN.

@Raid Master

 

Roland rolled up the sleeves of his jacket as the snow continued to fall from the sky. It seemed that with the bandit king gone there was little more to do than to help the wounded and injured before beginning the long trek back home. Included in that number was the leader of the expedition Zeus, as well as possibly the small group that had arrived with them. Roland had been eyeing those present during the journey mentally noting who had come to aid the Lions. However, the ones traveling with Zeus now were not faces he had seen thus far. It's possible it didn't really mean anything after all @Aalam Abungu had sent him a message stating he had arrived after them. Speaking of which...where was he?

Roland shook his head of the suspicions before they consumed him. This entire time he had seen daggers in the hands of his friends and allies, it was time to take people at their word, and deal with the fallout later. "I'll send a message to the king," he announced with a flick of his wrist that brought up his UI where he began to interface with the HuD for several moments before a small table filled with a small collection of beakers appeared at his feet. Kneeling at the chemistry set Roland began to mix and match between a variety of herbs, and unidentified liquids. Crushing some of the herbs with a mortar and pestle, Roland used an odd metal device to heat some of the liquids he had collected together into one large metal flask. The device itself seemed not to use fire, but was in fact powered by Roland's own Aeromancy,

Several minutes passed, while others likely used spells to heal the large man's wounds and poison. Roland couldn't really say which would be more effective, white magic, or Alchemy, but alchemy was all he knew. With that knowledge came the fact that it was possible that whatever poison was used could be resistant to magical solutions. So he did his best to create a formula that would be the most effective at this time, and provide him the desired effect. Soon, his hard work paid off as he produced a vial of a glowing blue potion. Casually he tucked it under his belt, as he put away the rest of his Alchemy set, before heading towards Zeus.

A quick glance at the man told Roland his condition, "Ah..." he said nodding at the eyeglass wearing Lion member, "I have a tonic here that can be used to treat more resistant poisons. Give me a hand; it has to be ingested orally." Assuming he had help, Roland would try to pour the contents of the vial down Zeus' throat. @Raid Master / @Zero (DM me for the desired effect of the potion Roland gave if needed)

 

_____Kaede spent most her time away from the group, when Zeus returned and havoc seemed to follow the prideful man she simply sighed lightly. So history was going to follow that set of events, she lost her guess again but it did not fully matter to her. There was still things she could do to prevent his death, but she still did not exactly see the reason to do such. Hand reaching to pet Tsuki-yumi who happily rubbed his head against it while the two walked around. Without anyone she felt she needed to speak with Kaede simply watched them.

”Rush to aid, zero sense comment, and… false or real cure? Fifty fifty chance it seems.”

_____Kaede wording events only moments before they happen, Astral magic ticking away as she scanned the area reading everything to come and sighing slightly. It was always a slight annoyance to see the future with a slight thought about it. Unable to be surprised by much, always able to speak before spoken to. Her dress waving slowly as she walked outside, her spot just close enough to hear the commotion, while also give herself some peace as she tried to solve when the Blizzard would ease up for them to leave.

”You can wait inside Tsuki-yumi, i promise i won’t freeze to death or anything. A perk to seeing when that would likely happen and able to avoid it.~ if only it worked better on woman!”

_____Her semi serious tone broken as she joked and her wolf pup seemed to show slight displeasure by biting Kaede’s arm before resting behind a nearby wall ready to leave when Kaede chose to. But as her darkened eyes watched the storm and felt the snow brush against her it was clear even to her Astral magic this would take some time.

 

Emerath was more thankful than anything that everyone was light hearted in this moment, as he moved to rejoin everyone in their fervor to be with their leader. It was good to see Zeus alive and well, but it didn't seem that the old man was out of the woods yet. Someone had seemingly poisoned a bandage.

"Hold on, hold on, everyone. While the healing is generally a good thing, creating a more positive bloodflow in him is likely to cause him to get the poison to his heart faster," Emerath explained as everyone else worked their magic and Roland held up a vial to the man to get someone to help him pour it down his throat.

"Here's the problem, if the poison has been in his system, he's likely going to die before that ingested antidote takes effect. Hold on," Emerath said, before pulling out his own Tinkering alchemy set. He opened his Investigation Mode by pressing on his temple and used his Tinkering knowledge to analyze the poison. He was able to get some reads on it, but the antidote didn't come readily to him, despite his high level in Tinkering. "Hmm... Maybe... this might just work."

Working quickly, Emerath mixed together something that might work as an antidote. It was based directly on the poison itself, so it should work better than Roland's. He fed the antidote into a syringe, and moved to Jawn (@Raid Master).

"Jawn, this is an antidote for this specific poison. Based on my chemistry knowledge, this is probably the best shot we have. You need to get this antidote into his system before the poison reaches his heart. I leave it to you to do as you wish, but it needs to get into his bloodstream immediately if it's going to have a lasting effect in saving his life," Emerath urged. All he could do now was hope he was right.

Thrown die:

81

 

Endilix had let Zeus go as his people took over caring for him. He had ended up sitting down on the stairs, and tried to catch his breath, both between half carrying the gargantuan man, and his own wounds. Endilix had started to zone out, maybe even doze off, at least until he heard Jawn shouting the news. Zeus had still been poisoned. Through the arm. Emil.

Endilix thought back through all the events that had transpired in that tunnel. It was an amazing sleight of hand if he had managed to pull it off. Dropping a fake poison, most likely the actual vodka. The "vodka" he had used to disinfect the wound must have been the actual poison. That was the only explanation that Endilix could think of. The only thing, based on what he had seen right in front of him, that made sense.

Endilix looked around, but he couldn't see Emil anywhere. He couldn't tell if the man had gone with them when they left the tunnel. Endilix was the only one that seemed to have surfaced from the assassination attempt so far. Endilix was going to be blamed. So what could he do, before everyone recovered and pointed the finger at him?

There was a man who claimed to be in contact with the king. Only someone of some sort of leadership could be one to discuss these types of matters with the king directly. Endilix moved past the familiar looking redhead who was talking to Jawn about an antidote and went for the man (@Roland Rutledge).

"Sir," Endilix huffed, still physically strained from the previous battle, as he tried his best to get the words out quickly, "I was there, when we were bandaging Zeus. You seem rather leaderlike, talking to the king and all. Aalam, he said he was a ranger to a duke. Are you him? Do you know him if not? I have a message for him, and I need to prove that I'm not involved in Zeus' poisoning."

Endilix reached into his pocket to produce the note that Aalam had given him, before holding it out to the man. "I know who poisoned Zeus. But don't just take my word for it. Take these words. Verify their writer if you must. But look to the bandages themselves. There will be two sets, one is a rag from a set of old tattered clothes I found, and the other is the robes of a mage. A mage by the name of Emil Trevelyan. You simply need find the man and verify the torn robes. He can't have gotten far."

Endilix folded his arms and looked to Zeus, after giving the story, "You can arrest me if you want. I'm too tired to fight you anyway. But would I have carried the man here if I had intended to let the poison take effect? There's a chance he could be saved this way. If I was truly out to get him, I would have just left him to die. The decision is yours."

And as a sign of good faith, Endilix pulled up his inventory and unequipped his shield and hammer, before holding his hands up to the man to show he had no intention of fighting.

 

Yukisa wasn’t entirely sure what to expect in response to his question. In fact, he wasn’t certain Caccu would want to give an almost complete stranger an answer to something so personal. Yet despite how intimate of a matter it was, she still found it in her heart to give him her honest thoughts.

As she spoke, the silver-haired male’s movements slowed down slightly, and though he didn’t lift his gaze to meet the felis’, he listened silently to her words. Even though the atmosphere was so depressing, she still managed to speak in such an encouraging way. There was so much positivity in her words that somehow, a bit of it managed to seep into the melancholic teenager.

‘There’s still a chance for us, right?’​

There was hope. An inkling of it, but still hope to overcome their differences and maintain the closeness they had. This battle, along with Caccu’s words, made him understand that things weren’t black and white, and there would be times where he has to do things he will come to regret, however so long as he has friends by his side, they will be able to get through such hardships. Giving up, though, and letting sacrifices be for nothing… that’s something he wouldn’t manage to live with.

Upon feeling hands on his shoulders, the boy couldn’t help but look up at his counselor, his eyes noticeably a bit teary. Seeing her smile so brightly, however, a smile found its way to his own face, and after a quick sniffle, he replied, “No… thank you, Kazo- er, Caccu!”

When he finally finished treating her wounded arm, he stood from his kneeling position and, though he hesitated for a moment, gave her a warm hug, perhaps squeezing her a bit too tightly. “I’m glad you’re alive, too,” he told her with a somewhat affectionate tone.

Once the wounded had been tended to, the group continued to secure the fortress. As Yuki wandered the cold, lonely corridors, he had gotten somewhat lost in his thoughts, leading to multiple cases of him hitting his forehead on doorways that were slightly too low for someone of his height. But all the thinking was worth it, because by the time he had finished his patrol, he knew what needed to be done.

He put his hand forwards slightly and opened it, causing the palm menu to appear before him. A few taps later, and before him was a blank message template.

Mail

Hey, Rushi! It’s been a while… since we last talked. You know, after that whole thing…

Anyway... I’m not sure what you’re doing but, I’ve been doing a lot… we raided this fortress and slayed a big Bandit King boss! It was super cool, you should’ve seen it! I wish you could have…

But anyway, I thought that… we should talk. Not in messages, you know, face to face… or well, virtual face to face. I have a lot I’d like to say to you… so please accept!

~ Yuki

It had taken him at least 20 minutes to type that short block of text, mostly because each time he wrote a word, he deleted it at least 5 times before deciding on what he really wanted. But now that it was complete, he inserted the recipient, @Portia Ahrens … and with a deep breath, hit send.

 

Majolica was happy to see that Zeus had returned. Earlier, she hadn't been sure that he actually would. With the ruckus, the bandits, the ants, and everything. It was more than one man could stand against. Then again, Zeus was probably as strong as an army, so she wasn't that surprised to see him, but was happy none-the-less.

As Zeus stumbled in, Majolica waved happily. She liked The Lion's Pride leader, he made her laugh and did a good job of making everyone feel welcome. He was a good leader, and as the future ruler of the world, Majolica felt she could learn a lot from him. She also felt that he owed her an acknowledgment. She had done a lot of work today and had at the very least earned a thumbs up and a gold star.

Though costly today had been a good day. The Bandit King was dead, she had a new kitten rival to contend with, and for the most part, everyone had gotten out alive. Tired from the constantly bottoming out her energy supply, The Grand Witch was just about to lie down for a nap when one word jolted her up. Poison.

Getting up quickly, Majolica ran to where Zeus was to see all of the healers gathered around him. As she eyed everyone around them looking for someone suspicious or that looked to be trying to sneak away, The Grand Witch heard @Endilix Takagi express his guilt.

Rage mounting into a fever pitch and the last of her adrenaline coursing through her veins, The Grand Witch stormed towards the conspirator. Through gritted teeth, black energy spewing from her pores, she faced the man.

"You will tell me everything. Names, faces, and locations. I want to know where the group of you trash met, hehehe, who was there, and where they went. Hehehe, then I'll decide what to do with you. Hehe, you should pray that he lives, hehe, because if he doesn't, the punishment I will deal out to you and your lot, coward, hehehe... will have all of you wishing they died slowly in prison."

Apparently, Majolica was angry. Whomever this group was had drawn first blood, and The Grand Witch would not sit idle while enemies plotted against her guild.

 

Given that there was a blizzard raging outside it looked like they would stay inside for a while longer. Which was probably for the best since there were a lot of wounded to treat, and if there wasn't a snow storm convincing everyone to stay inside those who didn't take their wounds seriously might have decided to try and travel back to Vintergard anyway.

Things hadn't gone perfectly on the way here, but overall the white-haired Felis still had an optimistic perspective. While not everyone had made it most had been players so at least they weren't permanently gone, and she was confident that they would be able to do something about that monster in the depths eventually.

Thinking about this Vina was a lot more cheerful than before, doing her work of healing and taking care of the wounded with enthusiasm until the moment where she hears the arrival of new people, including their lost leader who had finally found his way back to the Pack. Seeing that the man had lost his arm Vina stared in shock, frozen for a moment as she was stunned with disbelief before shaking her head. The man gave the impression that there was nothing that could stand in his way, so seeing him in this state wasn't something she had been prepared for. However at least it looked like he was alive, which was the most important part.

However it quickly became clear that his survival wasn't certain yet, as it looked like someone had used a dirty tactic to poison the old hero. Vina rushed over to see if she could help, but by the time she was there several others had already gotten to work trying their best to help Zeus, leaving Vina with little to do... but she still couldn't just stand there and do nothing.

"Can you help?" She asked @Ilya, wondering if the lioness's Hydromancy could somehow be used to help remove the poison from Zeus's body. The druidess herself thought about what she could do with the others already trying to neutralize the poison and heal the man's wounds, then decided on trying something that would keep her from getting in the way.

Getting as close as she could without possibly hindering the others tending to Zeus Vina planted the butt of her staff on the stone floor, closing her eyes as she began to sing a song with magic infused into her voice. Through the music her magic filled the area, filling everyone with a feeling of resilience and fortitude as Vina was using her Harmonic Magic to buff everyone around her. By bolstering Zeus's own body she was hoping to increase his chances of successfully resisting the effects of the poison, which might not on its own be able to cure him but would make it easier for the others by boosting their patient's strength temporarily and giving them more time to work.
@Raid Master

 

The Aristocrats and the Pride of the Lions, they were two groups within the Astorean Kingdom but they each had different motives within. One was a Faction built by the Dark Nobles, those who wanted power and fame for themselves or perhaps just to watch the world burn as a form of entertainment, the other was...Well if you knew who was Zeus was, that pretty much summed up most of the Pride.

Vivian had done an act of kindness, keeping their great leader alive while the original plan was to poison him and help the Bandit King. However, she believed that having such a King gain influence over Astorea would hurt her chances down the line as her becoming the next in line for the throne. It was a simple plot, all the people had to do was obey. Obey her like the Queen she would soon to be, and no one had to get hurt. But people, they enjoy making drama and things difficult for her.

Vivian allowed a sigh to escape her lips as she watched the party walk away. Her arm continued to smolder as the blackened flesh crept pain and dissonance upon her. She felt weak and weary and sat down on a rock formation and allowed the splitting pain in her arm to just run its course. Opening her mouth, her mauve lips expelled a black like smoke as she ejected some of the fire from her belly. She had been so hot since getting out of that tunnel, she barely had any energy to stand. The Dark Witch pulled her hat off and dropped it down next to her, her right arm pulsating with each throbbing stab of pain injected into her body.

She had so many questions, but no answers. She moved her left hand and felt the heat resonating off her right arm, the closer it got the more it seemed to burn the air. Her fingers could barely form a fist as she sat there. Even with the pain settings off, this sort of pain for more real than anything else she had ever felt. Her tired, azure eyes looked away from her arm and she sank into the rocks, lifting one leg up and bending it as she stared directly into the sky while her eyes blinked slowly. The black rose tattoo on her thigh was revealed as her burned and tattered skirt moved from the raised position of her leg. She lay there calmly attempting to figure out what exactly happened down there and what the voice and power was.

 

Haru found his feet rushing to Zeus before his mind could understand that he was running to help the man. Before he was just lazing around after getting patched up and finding something to drink, and now something like this has to happen..! Haru swears under his breath.

Everyone's crowded up around the man's front, assisting him wherever they could from what he could find. The last thing he needed to do right now was to get in the way, and so he skirts around the titan before facing his back. He contemplates to himself for a moment.

How could he help? His job in his old life was to research solutions for disease- he had little to no work in poisons, much less had the ability to deal with them. His life experience was worthless in a situation like this.
So the only help he could give was with what he could do in this game.

Haru reaches out to @Zeus ' being in the same way that he's taught himself over this expedition. He may not quite understand how exactly he moves to touch the spirits of other people yet, but he knows what he can do with it now. It didn't take long to find the other's soul. It was far larger and almost certainly stronger than Haru's own, and it hardly held turmoil in the face of this poison ailing him.

But turmoil was there. Haru reaches out to it, speaking in words that could only be heard by the two. "Hey. I'm sorry, I don't think we ever properly met before. I'm here to help. I plead you to stay strong under this ailment. Your cubs are worried about you, you know? And if you can't, I'll keep you up. Lions help each other to stand tall."

 

He lagged behind the others.

Mostly, he played up the agony he had felt from the poison coursing through his system. He didn’t feel it anymore and when he peeked at his status bar, his health was still in the double digits, but he was no longer poisoned. It didn’t erase the black and purple lines that spiderwebbed under his skin and crept up his throat, threatening to invade his cheeks, his eyes, his brain.

Nevertheless, Emil quietly and demurely shuffled along at the rear of their group. Why he was heading back to the main encampment with these people was anyone’s guess. He didn’t even fully know why he continued to walk with them, his head lifting slightly when Zeus’s voice punctured his ear canals. The man was still on his feet, one arm and all. A smirk would have twisted across Emil’s mouth had he the ability for humor. He didn’t. He was without a smile, a smirk, any sense of revelry when it should be the opposite.

They had been sent to do a job and they had failed. The Aristocracy would not take well to failure. Granted, they also hadn’t been paid yet, so perhaps there was still a bit of wiggle room, but Emil doubted it. He highly doubted it.

It had to have been a set up all along. That was the other thought that circled through his mind as his feet slowed to a stop, the leather soled shoes quiet against the ground. He was a mess; his robes torn in certain places, the acid and gunk from the Queen Ant having eaten away at other pieces of cloth. The clothing he wore beneath the robe, a purple silken shirt and soft cotton breeches had also been torn and stained. He didn’t smell too appealing either and he was sure that his hair was a mess, but he was alive…in one way or another.

And he had been set up. The Aristocracy had to know that this rag-tag band of fuckups couldn’t kill the mighty Zeus. And yet he had tried…and now he had failed. His fingers curled into fists at his sides before suddenly relaxing, his attention coasting over the crowd and landing on the mighty man who was suddenly sleeping on the ground. There was talk of bandages, of poison, and Emil, very suddenly, wondered again, why the fuck had he walked here with these people.

Instead of fading more into the crowd, he glanced around, quickly making a decision, and hobbled over toward @Vivian Cruz and @Lucia Mierz . The two women were powerful, more so than he, and hadn’t the Duchess mentioned something about allowing him to see her notes? Yes, allying himself with them would be smart, even if it was just for the time being.

A tiny bow was given to the pair before he spoke. I hope you don’t mind if I sit with you, Lady Lucia, Lady Vivian. You are the only familiar faces here.​

 

Something wavered in the small Felis, but her tenacity never broke. Kijin watched a storm of emotions clear behind her eyes as daylight returned and brightness shone in her smile. It was nice that she could see past all that death, and yet in its midst still, manage such an expression. In his relatively short life outside Terrasphere, Thom had found precious few people able to pick themselves up from the muck life threw at them and walk with their heads held high.

He was certain that was a fantasy, in fact. No more than a mask the other could wear conveniently because they existed now in a world free of lasting reprecussions. Whether this was a young woman that saw this only as a game, or someone who had fled from the same world he knew in terror only to find someplace where daylight always broke at the end of a long night, Kijin matched her adamant gaze and contrived, goofy antics with an even (if emotionally void) gaze.

Such novel sentiment.

His eyes closed slowly, and he faced away from her. "Just don't give me a reason to hunt you instead of more dangerous beasts," he said at last, disinterested in an argument. At the very least, justice was petty and dealt in the goings on between Nations and organizations.

Essentially, in places and people he intended to give a wide berth from that point forward. "I hope you find some fulfillment in your "justice," he added curtly, not entirely sarcastic.

Gods, what an empty aspiration.

@Zero

Hidden

The Swordsman stopped short when he observed the hulking form of Zeus, wounded gravely and expending what little energy he had with every word. Finally, the mythic man slumped into a daze and one of the Pride piped up about poisoning. What a raw deal this had turned into for their brave band of heroes.

He knew nothing about poison, healing, or what to do in these situations, but Kijin knew what he could not do until this man was stabilized.

As much as he hated it, he couldn't just leave a man to die.

"Tch," he spat on the soggy ground and folded his arms. Whatever they decided to do from here, he would wait until they organized and he would see it through to the end.